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“Me-gu-mi!” Yuji called in a sing-song tone, pausing between each syllable.
“Hmm?” Megumi looked up from his book at his boyfriend who was stood by the door, leaning against its frame with a pouty look on his face.
“Hi.” The pout morphed into a bright beam and Megumi felt his cheeks flush because holy shit that was directed at him.
“Hi.” He returned, albeit quieter than Yuji’s greeting, closing the book to give Yuji his full attention.
“Go on a date with me?”
“Today?” Megumi asked, furrowing his brows. “Are we even allowed?”
“I asked Gojo-sensei and he was more than happy to arrange a car if we needed it.” Yuji nodded.
“Ugh, you talked to Gojo about it?” Megumi pulled a disgusted face and Yuji snickered.
“Would you rather I talked to the Principal?” The answer came in the form of a horrified look appearing on Megumi’s face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. So, date?”
“It’d be my pleasure,” Megumi let a soft smile replaced the look on his face before he realised something. “What about Kugisaki?”
“She’s spending the day with Maki-san,” Yuji waved him off. “I was helping her choose an outfit earlier, and she made me paint her nails on her left hand.”
“To be fair, you have pretty steady hands.” Megumi pointed out.
“I’m happy to help either way,” Yuji shrugged. “You got anywhere specifically you want to go?”
“Uh… not really,” Megumi swung his legs over the side of the bed and stretched, raising his arms above his head before he met Yuji’s gaze and met a fond smile and a warm expression on his boyfriend’s face. “Do you?”
“Megumi my love, I’m so glad you asked,” Yuji said dramatically and Megumi blushed at the term of endearment. “I have some semblance of a plan.”
“Do tell.” Megumi urged in a fond tone. Gods, no one could make him as sickeningly fond as Yuji could. It was disgusting and he hated it (he didn’t) (he loved it) (a lot).
“Okay, okay so there’s this cool new bookshop and I thought we could go because I know you always want to buy new books and I was gonna look for some new volumes of these manga’s I’m reading, they might have them. Then! We could go to a coffee shop or something before we head back and I’ll make you dinner, whatever you want. We can even buy the ingredients when we’re out.”
“Did you read my mind or something to figure out the ideal date?” Megumi narrowed his eyes at the grinning menace in front of him.
“Noooo, I just know you really well,” He grinned and Megumi decided he would do anything to protect that smile. Anything. “Come on, get ready! Daylights wasting, we need to go go go! I’ll wait for you outside, okay?”
“Okay.” Megumi murmured with a nod and Yuji tapped a little tune onto the door frame before shutting it behind him. Megumi covered his face with his hands and let out a little groan, fuck he was so down bad. Nobara would never let him hear the end of it if she saw him like this, but honestly he found he didn’t really care if she teased him for the rest of his life.
He got up and ambled over to his little closet, throwing the doors open and perusing the collection of clothes he had. It was, admittedly, not a very large collection considering most of time was spent either in his uniform or in pyjamas. He wasn’t like Nobara who had such a large amount of clothes that some of them were actually in Megumi and Yuji’s closets, and he wasn’t like Yuji who had an impressive collection of hoodies in every possible colour one could think of. It was an understatement to say Yuji liked hoodies.
Megumi picked a pair of black trousers and a plain white shirt that he threw a grey sweater over and pulled on his black boots before checking his hair in the mirror, running a hand through it. He stuffed his wallet in his back pocket and his phone in the other back pocket before walking out of his room.
Yuji was, just like he said, waiting outside. He was sat on one of the steps that led up to the door of the dorms, leaning back on his hands. From behind him, Megumi could see he was wearing his favourite yellow hoodie. Yuji turned around at the sound of Megumi’s footsteps and his eyes lit up when he saw him, bounding to his feet. Now Megumi could see he was wearing a pair of light blue jeans cuffed at the bottom and some white trainers.
“You look great.” Yuji said earnestly.
“So do you.” Megumi let a small smile grace his lips as Yuji reached out to grab his hand and tug him closer, their shoulders brushing, and their fingers linked together.
“Come on, car’s waiting.” Yuji motioned to a car waiting in the distance with his head.
“Do we have a curfew or something? Is the driver going to be waiting for us to finish?” Megumi asked as they walked to the car, hand in hand.
“We can walk back if you want? Get the bus to the nearest station just down the hill from the school and walk the rest of the way.” Yuji suggested, opening the door for Megumi, who got in and scooted to the other side, leaving space for Yuji to sit inside as well.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Megumi nodded, buckling his seat belt and when Yuji had buckled his, he reached out and took the pink haired boy’s hand once more, rubbing his thumb over his scarred knuckles. He didn’t know the story behind that scar, but he had asked once and Yuji hadn’t wanted to answer, so he assumed it was a sensitive topic and left it alone.
“Tell me about the books you want to buy.” Yuji urged softly, tugging Megumi’s hand to his lips and pressing a kiss on the back of it before enveloping it in both of his warm ones.
“It’s a science fiction one, you might like it. Gojo actually told me about it because he liked the technical side of it. it’s called the Three Body Problem. The original novel is in Chinese, but I think they’re selling translations, so I want to find one. it has aliens and there’s this problem and –”
It was usually Yuji who was rambling on and telling Megumi about things he liked, be they movies or books or video games, but whenever Megumi was really interested in something, he could talk about it for ages, and it was Yuji’s favourite thing ever. He loved listening to the low timbre of his boyfriend’s voice, hear how it pitched up because he was excited and how his grip on Yuji’s hand tightened occasionally when he got particularly enthusiastic. He loved him.
With Megumi talking, neither of them even noticed the car ride going past and soon enough the car had stopped right in front of the bookshop. “Oh, we’re here,” Yuji noticed, surprised. “Come on, let’s get you that book.”
“Not just me,” Megumi grumbled, opening his door and leaving it open for Yuji to get out because he was closest to the bookshop while Yuji’s side was nearer to the road. His boyfriend leaned back into the car and spoke to the driver before he stood straight and shut the door. “What’s up?”
“I was just saying we didn’t need them to wait for us, we got it sorted, yeah?” Yuji shot him a smile and Megumi’s lips curled up without him even realising it. “Let’s go, come on, come on!” Yuji grabbed Megumi’s hand and tugged him into the bookshop.
“Oh wow,” Megumi commented, looking around with wide eyes and a look of wonder on his face. “This place is really cool.”
The place was a whole building on the street, and it looked even more impressive on the inside. The ground floor was a mixture of the recent best sellers, fiction and non-fiction and organised into various genres along with the genre and a little stationary section. There was a little directory beside the stairs and elevators detailing the genres that were displayed on every floor and Megumi read it briefly before tugging Yuji up the stairs to the first floor where the science fiction books were.
Yuji was content to follow his boyfriend around as he perused the shelves and looked at various others before he finally found the ones he was looking for. He picked out three different books, all looking to be by the same author and looked around for a basket, but Yuji merely offered his free arm. “I’ll carry them, you keep looking if you want.”
“Are you sure? You’re holding my hand too…” Megumi gave an unsure look.
“I got two hands for a reason,” Yuji grinned, wiggling his fingers on his free hand until Megumi relented and handed the books over, thanking Yuji with a kiss to the cheek, pulling away before Yuji could tilt his head and deepen it. “Aww.”
“We’re in public,” Megumi reminded him. “Come on, you wanted mangas, didn’t you?”
“Yes!” Yuji’s eyes lit up. “What… floor were they on?”
“Second,” Megumi said helpfully, shaking his head fondly as Yuji pulled him to the stairs, bounding upstairs excitedly and running over to the large section of the bookshop indicated with signs to be the manga section. “Do you have something specific you want or…?”
“Kind of,” Yuji murmured, uncharacteristically quiet as his eyes trailed over the shelves. “There’s some new volumes and I want to see if they have this new manga I’ve been hearing a lot about. It came out in the Weekly Shonen Jump recently so I think I can find the first volume of it.”
“What’s it about?” Megumi asked, watching Yuji put Megumi’s books down to grab some of his own, piling them on top.
“It’s a… it’s called Chainsaw Man and it’s this guy and he can like… partially turn into a chainsaw? His head turns into one and there’s blades in his arms and stuff. And there’s devils, they kind of remind me of curses actually, but they have an organisation, and they kill the devils but there’s also half devils? I don’t know much because I haven’t read it yet, but it looks cool, and it reminded me of the jujutsu world.”
“Tell me if you like it, maybe I’ll read it too.” Megumi said.
“Really?” Yuji’s eyes widened. “Okay, okay, I’ll read it first… if I can find it that is.”
“Isn’t it there?” Megumi nodded his head to a volume of a manga with a character on the front looking like he had a chainsaw for a head and blades on his hands, just like Yuji had said. Megumi couldn’t make out the characters emblazoned on the bright orange cover from this far, but it seemed like that was it.
“It is!” Yuji beamed, reaching out to grab it and add it to the pile before hefting the books back into his free hand. “You want anything else?”
“Not that I can think of. Where was the till?”
“Ground floor.” Yuji said as they headed to the stairs.
“Gojo is funding this by the way, I never use his card so might as well put it to use now. He’ll be happy I’m using it.” Megumi patted his back pocket where his wallet was nestled, a card under Gojo’s name hidden inside.
“Sensei’s rich, I’m sure he won’t mind a little money disappearing,” Yuji shrugged. “Don’t think he’d mind if we went to a fancy supermarket for dinner stuff later either, would he?”
“’Course not,” Megumi’s lips quirked up. “Just the supermarket? Not coffee?”
“Let me treat you to something, ‘Gumi,” Yuji whined lightly as they got to the ground floor and stood in line for the cashier. “Coffee’s on me.”
It was almost like Yuji knew Megumi couldn’t deny him anything when he called him that stupid nickname, so he relented, nodding with a sigh. When it was their turn to pay, Megumi pulled out Gojo’s card nonchalantly and tapped it on the card reader as Yuji was handed their books in a paper bag with the bookshop logo printed on the front in small black characters.
They left the shop hand-in-hand still and Yuji let Megumi choose the coffee shop considering he knew Tokyo better than Yuji did, coming from Sendai and still not fully used to the Tokyo city lifestyle, while Megumi had lived here with Gojo and Tsumiki since he was little. He might have gone to school in Saitama, but they lived in Tokyo because it was closer to Jujutsu Tech.
The coffee shop Megumi picked out was one he frequented before he met Yuji. It was one on a corner and usually not very full, which was great for Megumi because he greatly disliked lots of people when he was trying to find somewhere quiet to have a coffee and read or study. So this was a great place, and they even had a basement where there were multiple circular booths instead of standard ones.
Megumi ordered a black coffee and Yuji a hot chocolate, before the pink haired boy paid for their drinks and they retreated downstairs, which was even emptier than the main floor. Megumi dragged Yuji to the booth furthest from the stairs and flopped down on the plush seating, waiting for his boyfriend to sit before he slid down a little so he could comfortably rest his head on the shorter’s shoulder.
“Have you been here before?” Yuji asked, leaning his own head against Megumi’s as he uncapped his drink and left it on the table to cool down so he wouldn’t burn his tongue as he drank.
“Mhm, in middle school. It’s always nice and quiet and they have good coffee.” Megumi nodded against Yuji’s shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee without a flinch.
“Sounds nice,” Yuji smiled softly. “Always wondered what it was like to live in such a big city.”
“It was okay. I mean maybe not as extravagant as you were expecting.”
“I don’t think jii-chan would have liked it,” Yuji mused, picking up his drink now and sipping it, smearing whipped cream on his lips before he licked it off absent-mindedly. “He didn’t like loud places, shame considering the last two years of his life were spent in the hospital.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Sometimes. He raised me so… yeah. But I spent a lot of time alone as a kid, so it doesn’t feel as different. ‘sides, if he saw me being all mopey about his death, he’d probably haunt me.” Yuji chuckled and Megumi felt the vibrations.
“He sounds like fun.”
“He was. He’s the one who taught me how to cook actually,” Yuji mentioned. “Anything specific you want for lunch?”
“Meatballs?”
“With extra garlic and ginger?” Yuji asked, chuckling when he felt Megumi nod. “Okay, we can do that.”
“You mean you can do that, and I’ll just watch you, so we don’t burn the kitchen down.”
“You’re not that bad in the kitchen, Gumi, come on.” Yuji nudged, pressing a kiss to Megumi’s forehead before he sipped more of his hot chocolate.
“Mm, maybe. Maybe I just like watching you cook.” Megumi replied quietly.
“Okay, you flatterer.”
When they finished up their drinks, Yuji picked up the bag of books once more and Megumi’s hand in his free one as they headed to a supermarket. There was one pretty close to where they were, and it was even close to a bus stop where they could catch a bus to the station nearest to the school. As they walked in, Yuji handed the bag of books to Megumi and grabbed a basket in his now free hand, opting to carry the heavier stuff.
“We don’t need much, it’s a fairly simple recipe.” Yuji hummed as they walked through the aisles, grabbing the things that they needed and paying for it with Gojo’s card. It was less than thirty minutes later that they walked out, a heavy bag of ingredients clutched in Yuji’s hand as Megumi checked the bus timetable and confirmed it would be here in just a few minutes.
When the bus got to the station, they were the only two to get on as a large group got off. Megumi tugged Yuji to the very back where they sat in a two by two section next to each other. This time, Yuji dropped his head into Megumi’s shoulder as he gazed out of the window, watching the streetlights blur together the bus took them closer and closer to home.
It took around twenty minutes before Megumi was nudging Yuji as the bus started slowing down when they approached the station. They got off and Yuji adjusted his grip on the bag before they walked up to the school hidden in the mountains. The sun was just starting to set so they were surrounded by a beautiful plethora of colours, and the trees laid their shadows on the street beneath them while the tips of their leaves twinkled a fading gold.
By the time they had gotten to the school itself, it was darkening quickly. The lights in the kitchen and living area were off which either meant that everyone was in their rooms, or no one was back yet. Yuji flicked the lights on after they toed their shoes off and he put the bag of ingredients on the countertops, tugging his hoodie off and leaving him in a tight fitting white shirt. Megumi looked away quickly, feeling his cheeks colour as he slipped his own sweater off, sitting on one of the barstools in front of Yuji to watch.
Watching Yuji cook was one of Megumi’s favourite fast times. Everything he did was so meticulous, so calculated and careful. Yuji cooking was a Yuji different to the one he normally saw. He watched as his boyfriend laid a cutting board on the countertop and plucked a knife from the knife block, seamlessly chopping up some green onion before he left it to the side and turned to fill a pan with water and put it on the stove, turning the fire on beneath it and adding some stock powder to it.
Then he found a large bowl and started piling all the ingredients for the meatballs in them, kneading with his hands. Megumi was content to simply rest his chin on the palm of his hand and watch Yuji form the mixture into meatballs and dropping them into the pot to cook in the stock. When they were all in the broth, he added some vegetables and then covered the pot with its lid, washing his hands in the sink and walking to lean against the counter beside Megumi’s stool.
“Smells good. You’d make a fantastic housewife.” Megumi smiled up at Yuji, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Funny,” Yuji scoffed, rolling his eyes with a fond look on his face. “Real funny.”
Megumi lifted his hand to bring Yuji’s head down and kiss him. He could taste faint traces of sweetness from the hot chocolate he had had earlier and smiled against his lips. For once, it was Yuji leaning down to meet him and not the other way around, but he found he didn’t really mind it all too much, not if it was Yuji.
Megumi didn’t mind a lot of things if they were Yuji. He didn’t mind spending every waking moment with him, not worried in the slightest about draining his social battery. He didn’t mind going into the crowded city if it was with Yuji. He didn’t mind going on missions and exerting his cursed energy or even just exerting it by summoning one of his shadows for Yuji because oh the smile on his face every time was just so worth it. He loved this boy so much; he would do just about anything for him.